BlackBerry meets its desi match; BharatBerry to deliver more

JAIPUR: IT firm and maker of BharatBerry — the Indian version of BlackBerry services — Data Infosys is in talks with handset makers, including Huawei and Micromax, for providing internet and enterprise services on all smart phones.

The company has successfully completed the testing of this advanced push mail services on all kinds of operating systems such as Symbian, Android, Windows Mobile and J2ME technology. BharatBerry says their applications can be used on all handsets while BlackBerry services works only the handsets produced by Canada’s Research in Motion.

Data Infosys chief executive officer Ajay Data told ETthat Bharat Berry provides over-the-air (OTA) synchronisation of calendar, contacts, email and task note. “While in BlackBerry, push mails are not saved in the sent items or inbox of email account, Bharat Berry synchronises the mails and they are saved in the account folder and servers.

You lose your complete data if your BlackBerry device is lost. But with BharatBerry your data is secured on a server, even if you lose your handset,” he said.Mr Data claimed that the new service from Data Infosys also rules out any security threat as its servers were hosted in India. “Security agencies can have complete access to communication over BharatBerry,” he added.

The company is planning to tap corporates for offering white-label enterprise services where companies brand the messenger and enterprise services offered on this handset. “If Rajasthan government wants to hook on to this service for its employees, the service can be named as Rajasthan government service instead of BharatBerry. In case of BlackBerry, there is no chance of private labelling,” Mr. Data said.

The company has also decided to give a free trial of BharatBerry for three months as they fear that is not easy for corporates to accept what they term as “country made” services by a relatively lesser-known firm. After the free trial, users will be charged 100 per month for access to all services including emails, while for the synchronisation of calendar and contacts, the user will have to pay 50 per month, Mr Data said.